Caroline Harker returns to Salisbury this month playing the part of Sheila in Alan Ayckbourn's play, Relatively Speaking. The play will be in the Main House at Salisbury Playhouse from 4th – 28th September.

What can we expect from the play?

“I’m playing a lovely part called Sheila in Alan Ayckbourn’s play. She’s a bit of a still point in a moving comedy world. Sheila and Philip are married and their relationship is clearly under strain. They’re at a certain age, they’ve got a lovely garden out in Buckinghamshire and into that garden come Greg and Ginny. And the situation becomes increasingly complicated and hilarious and it’s full of misunderstandings and you think all the time it’s going to fall apart but it doesn’t, it just sustains. It’s a very funny play. It works like comedy clockwork maths. You just keep thinking that it’s not going to add up and it’s all going to fall apart. It delights because it teeters on the edge of collapsing but it never does. It’s just very funny and very clever. You just sit there in disbelief.”

Are the play's themes still relevant today?

“I love it because it sits where it does and, it may be a period piece now, but they are completely living and relevant conversations that they are having.”

This is the second time you have appeared at the Playhouse this year (having appeared in Handbagged earlier this year), what is it you like about the place?

“I was delighted to be asked back. I feel I’ve just scratched the surface of Salisbury and at the Playhouse the audiences are really warm and really buzzy and the atmosphere backstage is wonderful. I can’t tell you how much I like the wardrobe, everybody in there. All the backstage crew, the production office, all the offices. There’s a real mix of people but everyone is warm and welcoming and it’s been a pleasure to be there and I feel very happy to be there and have no hesitation about returning.

“I haven’t seen as much of the city as I would like because when we were doing Handbagged we never left the stage. So we were in the rehearsal room [at Salisbury Playhouse] for the entire time. At first I thought that Salisbury consisted of the ring road, the car park, Sainsbury’s and the rehearsal room. But it started to reveal itself slowly – and I feel that if I’d been there longer I would have discovered so much more. There’s that sight of the spire as you drive in. I used to drive in from Odstock where I was staying and I loved it although I never got up the spire because it was booked up when I tried to go.

"I liked the little market stalls that suddenly appear and I bought some sweet pea plants that are now growing very happily up a wigwam outside my front door in London and that makes me think of Salisbury. I loved the beautiful architecture. Suddenly you get this ancient beautiful building sitting there on the street. I like the nearby rolling countryside. I also like the way that Salisbury winds down at the end of the day. There’s this sort of closing up that goes on and I love that. The silence on the cobbly streets – whereas London seems to hot up at night – so I like that very peaceful feeling. And this whole crowd comes in to go to the theatre. You can see them arriving from your dressing room and I used to really like that. Our dressing room windows overlook the car park and you see people coming in to go to the theatre and they sort of pass people doing parkour at the car park. It’s just a real good mix. I found a very warm and happy atmosphere.”

Are there any place you wish to visit this time?

“I want to walk to Old Sarum, someone told me to do that, and I’m definitely going to get out, if I have a chance this time, to Avebury and Stonehenge. I stayed out in Odstock as I mentioned but I won’t have the car this time so I’ll be living in town. I can do early morning walks across the Cathedral close, I’ll walk along the river and I’m looking forward to sitting in the Haunch [of Venison] with the rest of the cast and having a glass of red wine and, this time, I’m going to go up the spire. I really can’t wait to do that. There’s an awful lot more to discover about Salisbury and I’m delighted to be given a second go at it.”

Caroline Harker appears in Relatively Speaking in the Main House at Salisbury Playhouse from 4th – 28th September. For more information, visit www.wiltshirecreative.co.uk

[This has been adapted from an interview originally scheduled to be published in another publication]